My splitter will split 24" so I cut as close to 23" as possible. My wood box can fit a 54" long piece so no problem getting 23" in. End to end that is. I plan to sell some wood at some point so that wood I need to make sure is 16" so I have no issues with buyers. I usually use my buzz saw for that stuff so it can be exactly 16" easily.
You're prolly more on the ball than I am when the "discovery" is made that a piece is too long. I've been told I put on a pretty good show running thru the house with a split half on fire, trying to stuff it out thru a locked door before it smokes up the livingroom... Now, I make sure all my firewood is 20", give or take... stove will take 24".
HDRock, I have a a bit of firewood equipment. I have 2 buzz saws. I spoil my wife. We run a pretty big outfit using offroad rock trucks and pay loaders to load them.
Wow, you guys are amazing. My brother and I have used a Mingo marker, spray paint or a lumber crayon with a 16 " story stick- and people around think we're nuts!
And then of course there is this thing, skip to the 2 minute mark if you want to see laser guided log measuring.
Well, I would like to thank y'all for the many ideas and comments. I think cutting a equal size piece of wood will help stacking. Again, thanks, everybody
Looks nicer if they are all the same length too. These are the 23" ash in 30" bins. If I can get going on it I'm going to build a 32 or 36" with a 2 and 4 way splitter. 16" splits look nice and clean in these bins. I think it will help come selling time. I'm sure Pamela Anderson gets more dates than Rosie O'Donnel.
"I'm sure Pamela Anderson gets more dates than Rosie O'Donnel." ... I'm not sure... lessee... Rosie... Pam Rosie... Pam... Yep... Pam prolly gets more dates than Rosie... guys anyway...
What, you think you can just tell everybody it's your bedtime and they'll all go home? You started this party, we're not leaving 'til the cops show up.
I guess I am anal about my splits and stacks all must be 16" . The best way for me to get that is with a Mingo Marker.
I tried a Mingo once, but had problems with it. Whenever I hit a stub, irregularity or bare (slippery) spot, it would slip, producing a long piece. Maybe I wasn't pushing on it hard enough. Aside from that, they are probably the fastest way to mark a log.
I use lumber crayons but when it is real cold they don't work well. A can of fluorescent ground marking paint, (made to be sprayed up side down) lasts a long time. I have a 16" stick and another that is 48". The long one has marks at 16, 18, 20, 32, 40 and 48". I get log cut offs and they are irregular length. The goal is to make rounds at least 16" and less that 20" and not make real short round.
I use a 12' long stick and upside down marking paint in the bush to mark the logs into 12'. At home where I cut them into different lengths depending on what they will be used for I don't worry about the short piece on the end, those just go into the owb sooner. Good reason to burn all summer long, gets rid of the crap before winter heating season.
I measure with a Starrett tape measure (said to be reliable), shave off a little piece of bark, mark cleanly with a mechanical pencil (0.5mm - anything larger leaves too wide a mark), and then carefully cut to the right side of the mark. If the log is crooked or curved, I take several measurements, make several marks, wrap a stringline around the marks, snap the line and then carefully trace the line (right side ONLY!) with the cut. After the firewood is dry, I will bring each piece inside to my woodshop and belt-sand the ends to that each piece is precisely at the correct length. Then it gets re-stacked under cover and checked once more before it gets burned. Anything not meeting QC standards is rejected and tossed into the woods for natural recycling. So far I have been able to burn 1.7% of my accumulated firewood and there's a monstrous pile of rejects out behind the wood shed.
Starrett tapes are over-hyped. Any quality tape will do after you calibrate it with a 24 in. scale. When you cut do you take the line or leave it? I prefer to leave the line as a witness mark, it's easier to see irregularities. Do you chamfer the ends of the rounds after you face them? It takes someone with skill to know if it's right, the kid who sweeps the floor can tell if it looks like crap. Did I mention that I'm a recovering machinist? One day at a time.
